The Shape of Sola Scriptura by Mathison Keith A

Author:Mathison, Keith A. [Mathison, Keith A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Canon Press
Published: 2020-07-07T16:00:00+00:00

Upon This Rock (Matthew 16:17–19)

Few passages of the New Testament have been the source of more discussion and debate in recent centuries than Matthew 16 :17 –19 . Because it is used as a primary proof-text for the doctrine of Roman supremacy, it has been at the center of debate between Roman Catholics and Protestants. The text itself follows upon Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ—the Messiah of Israel.

Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it, and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Probably the most important observation that can be made about this text for the purposes of our study is the fact that before the Reformation of the sixteenth century, this passage was very rarely used to support papal claims. The simple reason for this is that most of the early and medieval Church interpreted the “rock” as Christ or as Peter’s faith, not as Peter himself.1 But why is this important? Vatican I and numerous other Roman Catholic decrees insist that no one may interpret Scripture contrary to the “unanimous consent” of the fathers. Aside from the fact that only on a handful of doctrines will one find anything approaching “unanimous consent,” this rule contradicts the modern Roman Catholic interpretation of this text. First of all, there was no unanimous consent on the meaning of the “rock.” Most interpreted it as Christ. Some interpreted it as Peter’s faith. A few interpreted it as Peter.

Second, the strong patristic tendency toward interpreting the rock as Christ necessitates the falsity of the modern Roman Catholic interpretation. Why? Because if, as Rome claims, the papacy was established by Christ as a necessary constitutive element of his Church; and if, as Rome claims, Christ established Peter as “the rock,” the supreme Apostle upon whom he would build his Church, then it is utterly inconceivable that most of the prominent leaders of this very Church would have failed to see that fact in this supposedly key passage until the middle ages. If support for the papacy is found in Matthew 16 , why was it was missed by most of the early fathers? We are forced to ask why some, such as Augustine, go out of their way to assert that the “rock” is not Peter. Regardless of whether the patristic interpretation of this passage is correct or not, the fact that the fathers as a whole do not interpret it as Rome now claims it must be interpreted is decisive evidence against the Roman Catholic papal interpretation.2 The most that can be positively asserted on the

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